Organization
Introduction
Even in the modern day and age, domestic violence in terms of physical, emotional and sexual abuse, is a common occurrence in most women’s life. It has been proven by research that domestic violence is primarily a woman issue and has found deep roots in the society. In this research paper, the issue of domestic violence against women would be discussed in terms of it being a gender issue. The report would explore the prevalence and consequences of domestic abuse, the practice issues, policies and tried to develop a framework for developing a good understanding of why men hit women and why domestic abuse of women is common.
The most common definition of domestic violence states that it is a recurring pattern of coercive behaviors of controlling women through the threat of physical violence, actual physical abuse along with repeated sexual assault, psychological abuse and progressive social deprivation, isolation and intimidation (Fluery et al. 2000). This study used the theoretical model of Domestic Violence Power and Control wheel for explaining the methods of abuse used by men. The framework can be explained as follows-:
1. At the center of the wheel are Power and Control. This is the main motivation behind men’s intention to abuse women.
2. From the center, the wheel is divided into 8 sectors, each of which explains a distinct tactic used by men to abuse men. These tactics include using threats and coercion, using economic abuse, using intimidation, using male privilege, using emotional abuse, using children, using isolation and minimizing, blaming and denying.
3. The outer wheel is further divided into two primary types of violence including physical and sexual.
Incidents and Prevalence Of Domestic Abuse
It is tough to get an accurate picture of ground realities related to prevalence of domestic abuse in the population and the large number of acts of violence occurring each year. Only a small number of studies like the National Crime Victimization Survey (Bachman and Saltzman, 1995) and the National Violence Against Women Survey (Bandura, 1973), have utilized samples that can be taken as a representation of the entire general population. These studies have offered information related to specific incidents of domestic violence as well as the prevalence of the abuse during a given period or through a lifetime. Many different studies have focused on the prevalence of domestic abuse in only some specific categories of the general population.
At the ground level, the law enforcement agencies may keep a record of the number of calls of domestic abuse they responded to as well as the number of people arrested for such crimes. The states are responsible for the compilation of the statistics related to law enforcement and submission of the data to the FBI for being included in the Uniform Crime Report. Public health institutions and hospitals may also have a record of people walking in their building seeking treatment for injuries caused due to violence (Fluery et al. 2000).
The CDC Office of Injury Prevention and state health departments categorize injuries resulting from domestic violence as intentional injuries. The hotline calls received by the domestic violence centers locally are kept in record (Saunders, 2007). These centers also maintain record of the number of children and women they provide shelter to along with the number of people receiving non-residential counseling. This record of information can be reported to the funding sources of these centers and to the coalitions of domestic abuse service providers. The data compiled at the state level can also be shared with the domestic violence organizations operating on a national scale (Bandura, 1973). These national organizations may, in turn, share this information with the media and the Congress as to how many children and women sought help to deal with the problem of domestic abuse and violence.
It must be understood a large fraction of the cases related to domestic violence go unreported as the violence occurs within the confines of the home in most cases. This underlines the fact that the incident reports do not paint a true picture (Coonz, 1993). Using representative samples in prevalence studies facilitate in better sensing of the volume of people that suffered from the problem.
Consequences of Domestic Violence
It has been observed that domestic abuse has a direct negative influence on the health of the affected individual. The negative health influence include digestive health (stomach pain, diarrhea, appetite loss, irritable bowel syndrome, constipation, and nausea), kidney infection, urinary tract infection, sexual dysfunction, grave menstrual problems, back pain, convulsions, neck pain, hypertension, influenza, fainting, and seizures (Fluery et al. 2000)
Forced sex may have chronic repercussions that include severe vaginal infection resulting in itching and discharge, sexually transmitted diseases, fibroids, vaginal bleeding, decrease in sexual desire, chronic pelvic pain, painful intercourse, abdominal pain, and urinary tract infection (Fluery et al. 2000). There exists a direct relation between violence between intimate partners and unwanted pregnancies along with sexually transmitted diseases that include AIDS. This can be explained by considering that if men has control over the sexuality of women, then the woman does not have much power to negotiate in matters related to use of contraception or condoms (Lyon, 2002).
The negative consequences of domestic abuse do not get confined to physical symptoms only rather they include a wide range of bad mental influences, as well. These negative mental repercussions include PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder, and tendency to commit suicide (Lyon, 2002), anxiety, depression, and insomnia (Lyon, 2002). The symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder include difficulty to get proper sleep, irritability, anger outbursts, lack of concentration, hypervigilance, lack of participation or interest in events, depression, and detachment.
The symptoms and effects of domestic abuse discussed above take time to surface. On the other hand, the immediate responses or reactions to domestic abuse are fear for the safety, shock, immobility due to terror, shame and low self-esteem or self-worth (Danis & Bhandari, 2010). Other such immediate reactions may include denial, withdrawal, emotional numbness, and low confidence. In the case of women victims, the negative fallouts may also include flashbacks, painful dreams and images, feeling of being vulnerable, self-blame, low self-esteem, anger, and loss of control (Slliovey et al. 1990). It has also been observed that certain women take the help of using substances to deal with the occurrence of abuse and try to avoid facing the reality of domestic abuse in their lives (Saunders, 2007).
The negative consequences of domestic abuses discussed above pose serious problems to the women and may prove fatal in a number of cases (Coonz, 1993). It becomes essential to know that there are a large number of women who survive being in an abusive relationship. Many domestic abuse victims have reported that they attained a trajectory of personal growth during their trying times of coping with the relationship’s adversities (Lyon, 2002). These positive changes reported in the personality of the abuse victims are often called as stress related or posttraumatic growth and demonstrate the capacity in a human to take benefit from even the most adverse of the situations (Whitfield et al. 2003).
Causes of Domestic Violence
Three theories are available that make an attempt to provide an explanation of the domestic violence. These theories include Feminist (Lyon, 2002), Social learning (Bandura, 1973; Widom, 1989), and Social exchange (Slliovey et al. 1990). It must be noted that, like all the other theories addressing the human behavior, these theories are also not able to provide an explanation of all domestic abuse. An ecological framework has been adopted, by most scholars and researchers, to ensure that all influences responsible for domestic violence fit together (Bancroft & Silverman, 2002). The ecological framework tries to consider influences at different levels. It concerns itself with the influences on individual, relationship, community level, and wider influences belong to socio-cultural paradigm falling in the macro level (Coonz, 1993). The influences on the relationship itself can be understood as two micro levels interacting and influencing each other along with interacting with every other level.
Factors operating at each level make a contribution towards the risk of perpetuating the domestic abuse. It must also be understood that many of the factors acting at each level are seen as correlates of abuse. For instance, even if it is true that violence and alcohol are highly correlated with each other, alcohol is not seen as the reason of violence or violent behavior (Bennett and Williams, 2003). The Center for Disease Control provides a list of risk factors for domestic abuse:
- At the micro or individual level, certain individual or biological experiences tend to increase the probability of an individual turning into an abuser at a later stage of life. Such experiences include exposure to childhood violence, which can be either through being a victim of direct abuse or being a witness to male parent abusing female parent. Drug or alcohol use also affects the possibility (Danis & Bhandari, 2010). It has been observed that a person with an arrest record has a higher probability of using violence on his intimate partner as compared to one without it.
- Unhealthy relationships and adherence to rigid and strict traditional roles associated with gender are seen as risk factors at relationship level. It is also understood that having friends and relatives that indulge in domestic violence may provide a degree of normalcy to the violent behavior with the intimate partner.
- At the community level, experience of poverty, violence, and low socioeconomic level are seen as factors contributing to the higher prevalence of domestic abuse and violence. Moreover, unemployment and relatively easier access to guns and fire weapons may influence the tendency of the community to indulge in violent activities that have a direct influence on the prevalence of domestic abuse.
- At the wider level of society, patriarchal norms that provide control to men over the behavior of female counterparts, consideration of violence as a method for resolution of conflicts, linking the idea of masculinity to dominance, aggression, honor, and culture and mass media including advertising, music, films act as the contribution to giving impetus to such an environment that encourages violence against women (Danis & Bhandari, 2010).
These factors contribute towards turning an individual or the society at large into an abuser. However, there are certain risk factors that provide the impetus to an individual to turn into a victim. These factors include being previously assaulted (Bancroft & Sliverman, 2002). The experience of assault can be either as an adult or as a child. One other risk factor for turning into a victim is experience of being isolated.
Understanding Why Women Stay: Barriers to Women Safety
Most of the researchers and experts who undertake the study of domestic violence against women fail to reflect upon the barriers to women safety. This report would attempt to examine and explore the reason behind why women stay and suffer from domestic abuse (Danis & Bhandari, 2010). The barriers to women safety are largely based on the complexities and inhibitions of women psychology itself. The complexities of the reasons why women stay in abusive relations and situation are rooted deeply into her location, her cultural origin, her religion and her socioeconomic status.
This study would draw upon the concept of “inter-sectionality” for explaining the various barriers to women safety. In real-life situations, women are continually assessing the risks to their safety. Their decision regarding leaving or staying in an abusive relation is primarily based upon whether they believe they can overcome the factors which kept them in an abusive relationship at the first place (Bancroft & Silverman, 2002). Such factors could be financial insecurity, the inability to support their children or themselves, the lack of shelter to go to, the lack of people who could help, and the most important one is how their family and friends would react. Other institutional factors which can become a barrier to women security include lack of inadequate financial and legal services for housing, child care, transportation, job-training and public assistance.
However, the most important factors which force the women to suffer in abusive relations is the societal messages. The parents always tell their daughters to respect their husband’s wish under all circumstances, the families expect women to be submissive and also the society promotes the concept that the children should always be raised by two parents (Coonz, 1993). In addition, the religious messages such as “till death do us apart” also force women to keep on facing and suffering from domestic violence.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it can be said that the society and the Government need to work towards providing a safer and more secure environment, wherein women can take care of themselves on their own. Once the women recognize the obstacles to overcoming their abusive relation are within herself, she can overcome all the problems and survive in the world on her own. The social workers and society needs to help women in identifying their strengths and developing better survival skills. Instead of forcing the women to develop coping skills, the society needs to send out the message that single women, with or without children, are accepted as strong individuals. The women need to be empowered, and the society needs to accept the fact that it is the abuser who is responsible for his abusive behavior.
Works Cited
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Lyon, E. Welfare and Domestic Violence: Lesson from Research. Harrisburg, Pa. (2002).
Slliovey, P et al. Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 9, 185-211. (1990).
Saunders, D. Child custody and visitation decisions in domestic violence cases: Legal trends, risk factors, and safety concerns. Harrisburg, PA. (2007). Print.
Whitfield, C. I.., R. F. Anda, S. R. Dune, and V. J. Felitti Violent childhood experiences and the risk of intimate partner violence in adults. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 18, 166-185, (2003).
